Improvement in harvesters



Uwrree STATES PATENT @sarees TILLIAM A. VERTREES, OF INCHESTER, MESSOURL IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2%323, dated February i860.

To It lii'l'm'ia 'it muy concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. Vne'rsnns, ot`v \Vinchester, in the county ot' Clark and State ot' Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hemp or Flax Harvesters; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming part ot' this specification, in which- Figure l. is a perspective representation of my improved vibra ti ng cutter for hemp and flax harvesters, placed between slotted fingers on a linger-board. Fig. 2 is a representation ot' a portion ot' the blade ot' my improved cutter, showing the shape ot' the teeth more clearly.

My imi'iroveinent consists in the coinbiiia-tion of slotted fingers with a cutter having on the same blade a double .row of teeth, so situated that the teeth forming the upper row have their cutting edges on the upper side or surface of the blade, while the teethin the lower row are placed interinediately to the upper teeth, and have their cuttingedges on the lower side or surface ot' the blade, so that the cutting-edge of the teeth of each row shall be tlush with the upper and lower face, respectively, of the slot in which the cutter works, this improvement being designed especially for application to hemp and llax harvesters, but being also applicable with advantage to grain and grass reapers.

1n order to enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvement, I will procecd to describe its construction and operation.

The cutters ordinarily used i n machines for reaping hemp and flax are similar in construction to those used in grain-reapers--that is., the beveled edge or face of each of the teeth ot' the cutter is placed upward, the cutting-edge belng turned toward the ground. The result is that in cutting hemp or flax the teeth are apt to get choked and clogged, which materially interferes with the successful operation of the machine. illy improvement is designed to remedy this ditlicnlt-y.

In the drawings, Fig. La is the blade ofthe cutter, which is in one piece. The cuttingedge projects horizontallyr beyond the edge of the fingerboard I), on which it rests and to which it is attached by passing' through slots c c in the fingers d d, tbc., which are firmly attached to the finger-board b, and also by means ot a pin, c, riveted to one of the fingers d' and yteeth turned upward.

to the linger-board below the blade a, and which pin c passes through a longitudinal slot or groove, g, in the blade, made long enough to permit ot' the free play or transverse vibration ofthe blade. A similar pin and slot may be used at intervals throughout thel length ot' the blade, if necessary, toholdit tirinlyin place. The vibration ot' the blade a is caused by means of a lever, f, having its fiilerum at 7b, and coiinected with one end ot' the blade bythe rod li', or by any other suitable coiitrivanee, operated by the revolution of one ot' the wheels ot' the machine in the usual manner. The cuttingedge of the blade a is furnished with small teeth il i, 85e., ot' which there are two rows, as seen more clearly in 'lfigz 2, one row having the cutting-edge ot' the teeth fifi., ttc., in the plane of the upper surface of the blade, and the beveled face'of these teeth turned down, while the other row has the cutting-edge otI the teeth t" i', Ste., in the plane ot' the under surface of the blade, and the beveled t'aee o'l" these 'lhe upper teeth,'i` yi. are so placed relatively to the lower teeth,i v',on the blade a that they are iiitermediate-that is to say, in the succession of teeth the upper teeth, t', and under teeth, t', alternate regularly. The teeth are not made ot' separate pieces or detached from the blade a. nor or there two blades, each having one set ot' teeth 5 but they are cut iii the blade in the manner ot" a crosscut-saw, which they resemble soiiie\vliat; but the teeth ot' my cutter are more quartering. The beveled edge of every tooth is the same, and so is the angie of the cutting-edges. The pointsot' the teeth are not arranged iii a line parallel to the back edge ot' the blade (t, but in short rows, at an acute angle to the back edge of the blade, so as to form iiidentations in the general conteur of the cutting-edge ot' the blade a, as seen in Fig. 2. rlhe effect ot this arrangement o't the teeth, just described, and placing them in two rows with their cutting-edges in different planes, is that each tooth strikes the stalk of hemp or flax at a different point from that on either side of it, and cuts the stalk a little above or alittle below the point where the last tooth passed, so that one tooth serves to free the other, and the cutter is prevented from clogging. The combination ot' a cutter thus constructed, with the slotted lingers, in the manner described, is also productive of a very important result in prevent .ing the lingers becoming clogged, and enabling the teeth of the cutter to sever any weeds, stalks, fibers, or other substances, which are apt to enter the slots in the fingers on the upper or beveled side of the teeth as ordinarily constructed, for by my construction of cutter there is a cutting-edge ou both sides ot' the cutter, liush with the upper and lower faces of the slots in the fingers, which prevents clogging, and while my improved cutter is peculiarly adapted to cutting hemp ortlax, owing to their toughness and fibrous character, yet my improvement is equally adapted, by enlarging the size of the teeth and arranging them as described, to the cutters of grain and grass reapers and mowers.

Having thus described my improvement, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with the slotted lingers dd, of a cutter having ou the same blade a double row of teeth, the upper row having its cuttingedges in the plane of the upper surface of the blade, and the teeth in the lower row having W. A. VERTREES.

Witnesses MARTIN G. CUsHiNG, AND. MCMASTER. 

